Jamie Lee Curtis Calls ‘Halloween Ends’ a ‘Cathartic’ Conclusion to Franchise — and Her ‘Final Girl’
Jamie Lee Curtis finally understands the legacy of the Final Girl trope.
The iconic scream queen finishes off John Carpenter’s legendary “Halloween” franchise with David Gordon Green’s final trilogy installment “Halloween Ends,” out October 14. Curtis will play Laurie Strode one final time after hunting Haddonfield serial killer Michael Myers for 44 years across 13 films.
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“It was deeply emotional and cathartic,” Curtis told Salon about parting ways with the character. “I mean, when you call her a final girl — I never really understood how important that name was until I made this last movie. And now I really understand it. And I think you’ll be very happy.”
“Halloween Ends” wrapped filming in February 2022, with Curtis calling the final day of production “bittersweet” in an Instagram post. “I’ve made great friends and have collaborated with wonderful artists on these three movies and today my part in the film has been completed and with it the END for me of this trilogy,” Curtis continued. “I love this crew and cast and I will miss you all. We can’t wait for the fans to see the movie.”
Kyle Richards, Andi Matichak, and James Jude Courtney, who plays Myers, will reprise their respective roles for the franchise ender.
Writer/director Green formerly hinted that “Halloween Ends” will be “a much more intimate movie” than his previous installments, 2018’s “Halloween” and 2021’s “Halloween Kills.”
“There’s not a lot of games in it, there’s not a lot of wittiness and retro joy,” Green explained. “It’s kind of a coming-of-age film, and it’s a very different tone. And that’s what excited me about it, is to have the three chapters that I’ve been involved in be very different from each other. They are all there to honor Carpenter, but aren’t necessary just emulating him.”
“Halloween Kills” star Judy Greer, who played Curtis’ onscreen daughter, told IndieWire that Green’s trilogy reflects real-life social issues in each film.
“It’s crazy that, in the first one, we accidentally made a movie about the MeToo movement, about a woman not being believed,” Greer said. “We made [‘Halloween Kills’] at the end of 2019, and it was supposed to come out in 2020, and we pushed because of the pandemic. And then there was a riot on our nation’s capital! We didn’t know that was happening when we made this movie about mob mentality and about what happens when you become a part of mob mentality. It’s crazy that that was the case.”
Greer added, “I think it’s really beautiful that you can make a movie like this, you can make a genre film [like this]. You’re like, ‘Oh, it’s a horror slasher movie, but it can be actually meaningful at the same time. Why not?’ And I think that’s why people love it.”
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